Friday, August 21, 2009

NEW PUBLIC LIBRARY SPACE NEEDS: A PLANNING OUTLINE NOW AVAILABLE

The popular tool for conducting a preliminary space needs assessment for Wisconsin public libraries has been recently updated and revised by its author and former DLTCL consultant Anders C. Dahlgren, now president of Library Planning Associates, Inc. The 30-page narrative outline and corresponding electronic worksheet can help public library staff and trustees estimate their library's future space needs to determine whether more comprehensive facility planning should be conducted. The DLTCL is grateful to Anders Dahlgren for donating his time to update this useful tool, and to the volunteer reviewers who provided comments for the revision: John Thompson of the Indianhead Federated Library System and Deb Haeffner of the South Central Library System.The outline covers six broad types of library space--collection space, reader seating space, staff work space, meeting space, special use space, and non-assignable space (including mechanical space). It suggests how library goals relating to each of these areas can be projected to meet future needs and provides a way to translate resulting service assumptions into space needs. Using the library's future service population and estimated collection size, the resulting simplified assessment of the future space needs can be compared against the available space in the existing building. The space needs estimate can be used to evaluate the adequacy of the present site or the amount of property that may be needed at a new location.The link to the PDF version of the publication, as well as a link to the Excel-formatted worksheet, can be found at http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/plspace.html.